Introduction
Most of the time, we face a problem to identify whether the application or executable is compatible to 32 or 64-bit version.
Basically, there are two approaches:
- dumpbin.exe provided with Microsoft’s Visual Studio
- Any hex editor
Background
First Approach
Mandatorily requires, previously installed Microsoft’s Visual Studio.
Start Visual Studio command prompt (recommend Privileged Mode)
Go to:
Home > All Programs > Microsoft Visual Studio (any version probably >= 2008) > Visual Studio Tools > Visual Studio Command Prompt
Then, “Run as administrator“.
Copy dumpbin.exe into the folder where the application (EXE) is located and then run the following command:
>dumpbin.exe /headers <executable/exe/bin> | findstr "magic machine"
In case of 32bit: machine (x86)
In case of 64bit: machine (x64)
Second Approach
Mandatorily, any hex editor (works with notepad++.).
Note: Online hex editors can also be used.
Open the application or an EXE file with an hex editor (in my case notepad++) and locate “PE..” (Ideally found in first 256 chunk of data).
In case of 32bit: PE..L.. (hex code: 504500004Cxxxx) = 32 bit
In case of 64bit: PE..d.. (hex code: 504500006486xx) = 64 bit
Using the Code
Example:
D:\Software\eclipse-jee-luna-R-win32-x86_64\eclipse>dumpbin.exe /headers eclipse.exe |
findstr "magic machine"
8664 machine (x64)
20B magic # (PE32+)
D:\Software>dumpbin.exe /headers jxpiinstall.exe | findstr "magic machine"
14C machine (x86)
32 bit word machine
10B magic # (PE32)
Example:
jxpiinstall.exe
PE..L.. (hex code: 504500004Cxxxx) = 32 bit
Or
eclipse.exe
PE..d.. (hex code: 504500006486xx) = 64 bit
Points of Interest
Hex editor links:
